Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Somewhere in the middle of America.

Not only did we spring forward for Daylight Savings Time on Sunday, but today we also sprang forward due to changing time zones. Double springing. Not sure that's safe.

The girls were the absolute BEST on the trip! I told them that they would get a prize every hour on the hour on this trip. (A total of 7 hours.) I was inspired by a similar idea (using envelopes filled with goodies) found on THIS blog. It really made the time pass quickly. And the girls would get so excited & start counting down as it neared prize time. It made them anticipate the next, & the next, & the next...

One thing that kept them quite entertained was a small container of Crayola brand Model Magic clay. It doesn't crumble like play-doh so I didn't have to worry about a mess. And it's so squishy & fun to play with!

In the evening hours of our trip, I unveiled new movies on the hour: Coraline (not a new movie, but one Zoey has been LONGING to have) & Happy Feet 2! Portable DVD player to the rescue! I used to think those things were so evil. How judgemental I was. I now believe they are one of the best inventions. Ever. Mostly.

We saw so many deer in fields along the way. And baby cows. And clusters of birds flying in crazy patterns. We ate at McDonald's where the girls opted for the Transformer toys rather than the "dumb" My Little Ponies. (haha!) Seriously, they don't "do" anything. They just stand there. Oh, you can comb their tiny colorful hairs.

We also played a game during one of the hourly prizes. (Which was planned around snacktime.) I got the idea from that same link mentioned earlier, on the blog "Kara's Creative Place". I gave everyone a bag of m&m's. You had to guess how many candies were inside your package & then predict the number of each color. Then, you opened up your candy & counted out how many were REALLY inside. Of course Kara did a much nicer job with a printed form & everything. (We also opted for the regular sized bag of m&m's & not the mini's.)

There were also magazines to read & coloring books to color. (And googly eyes! Did you look up "eyebombing" yet? Well, I'll help you out. I can't wait to show THIS to the girls tomorrow. And, yes, we will be attacking Omaha with googly eyes & trying to document it.)

On our last pit stop before making it to our destination, we stopped at a convenience store &, while the Mr. was filling the car with gas, the girls changed into jammies & brushed their teeth in the bathroom.

We pulled into the hotel close to midnight. Giggly girls who hadn't quite got all the wigglies out were trying to get to sleep as best they could.

And now I must rest for a full day of adventuring in the city tomorrow.

Oh, & our rental car has a push button/keyless start. Never driven one like that before!